I’ve been meaning to write a review on this magazine for a while. I’ve had it for some time but never sat down and looked at it in depth. If I’m going to tackle this innormous magazine I’m going to do it in one go. I got this magazine from http://www.colette.fr/ and the shipping was really fast. 2 days! That’s fast. Here’s an interview I found, it was originally from Models.com but I found it on thefashionspot.com

Milan’s New Frontier

With his diverse and fashion forward track record, news of the launch of a new Milan Vukmirovic venture creates instant excitement for a dedicated fashion follower. Tune in as Mr V gives us a quick update on his latest print venture, Fashion For Men.

MDC: How would you describe the aesthetic of Fashion For Men?

Milan: Very elegant, simple, modern and masculine.

MDC: Who are some of the artists and contributors to this first issue?

MV: Riccardo Tisci is the guest of honor, Tommy Ton is a major contributor, Anna Dello Russo has a big fashion story inside as a model. She is the only woman in the magazine. The magazine has also 12 fashion stories presenting some of the best new models, like Greg Nawrat, Travis Cannata, Tomas Bukovatz, Ian Mellencamp, Chris Moore, Eric Puzio and more….

MDC: What led to the bold choice of your first cover. What is the message behind this idea?

MV: The rottweiler was the theme of Riccardo Tisci’s collection for Givenchy this winter. It’s strong and aggressive. I wanted the cover to be strong too. Fashion For Men issue n°1 is about 620 pages of the best of the best fashion for this winter season and next spring. Half of the magazine is already a preview of next season.

MDC: How frequently will Fashion For Men be published?

MV: Twice a year

MDC: Finally what would you say sets it apart from other men’s titles on the market?

MV: No magazines gives so much space to men’s fashion and accessories. It’s a real “Best Of”. The paper is ultra luxurious. The magazine has a hard cover and is closer to a book than an actual magazine.

It’s a fashion diary of the last six months. I also wanted people to discover interesting men, not necessarily famous people, through long interviews and beautiful portraits.

The magazine is pretty fucking big. Actually it’s gigantic. This is one of the reasons why I wanted to buy it. The presentation makes the magazine look like one of those really niche must-haves. And honestly it sort of is. Also, a lot of people on the internet bitch about the cover being boring and how much of a bad idea it was to use the Rottweiler graphic because it’s been everywhere lately. Well the magazine is dedicated to Ricardo Tisci and the Rottweiler collection did really well amongst men. Had the Rottweiler not been on the cover, I’m not sure I would have bought this, so myth busted! The Rottweiler is repetitive for a reason, and I think it’s totally justified.

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The first thing I noticed when I opened the magazine was this terrible crunching of the binding. Luckily it didn’t do too much damage, and if handled with care it won’t come apart. If this is going to be thrown around, it’s definitely going to come apart. The pages are impeccable. So glossy and clean, top quality. I think the quality alone is worth the price you pay to have this magazine.

This magazine is meant to be the men’s fashion bible, and I don’t know about this. It sort of is and it sort of isn’t. I do think that, for it to be a “fashion bible” the magazine would have to be a little less subjective. Milan Vukimirovic does state that the magazine is his fashion diary, it’s really what he feels needs to be brought into the spotlight. However, because it’s so big and there’s so much information in it, it can always be used as a source of reference, so I guess it sort of is. Fashion For Men also doesn’t just feature fashion. It also features music and art, and other really cool shit. It’s really interesting how this magazine does bring into light a lot of things going on, which is what it says it’s going to do O_O. I’ve been writing this as I look through the magazine and… I don’t know why I’m so hesitant to call this the men’s fashion bible. Maybe because it is the first issue, but, it’s looking really good right now as the fashion bible because it goes beyond fashion without forgetting fashion. Hope that makes sense.

The guest of honor opening bit was a bit boring, I found a lot of images to be on the boring side all throughout the magazine. The photos just seem to be really minimalistic you know? Like those classy studio shots with shadows, sometimes black and white, moody. This is just a personal thing though, I love to be bombarded with visuals in a photograph (I’m a Galliano fanboy obv). The interview however, was really incredible. I’m one of those people who would love to just sit down with these designers and be their friends. I constantly dream about this. No lie. The interview asks somewhat personal and casual question. It really made me feel as though I’ve just met Ricardo Tisci in a casual environment and really kicked it off. I crave this so bad. As a fashion outsider looking in (and hoping to someday be a creative within the industry myself), to feel like you’re talking to a creative force like Ricardo Ticsi makes me all happy giddy. To me the interview was amazing.

Maybe I overestimated my ability to tackle this in one go. Def. not possible, so let me wrap this review up. Also keep in mind these are my opinions. A lot of things you will see in the pros you might think is a con and vice versa.
Some pros are that it’s huge in size, reasonably priced, a lot of variety, top quality, really different than anything being published, focuses on men’s fashion.

some cons are that it has a bit of boring photography, it’s minimal (lacks drama), and one thing for me (and I hope men’s fashion steers away from this) is the amount of shirtless photographs. I’m not offended by nudity but I do think that if it’s a men’s fashion magazine it should focus on men’s clothes. I think this is not just a mini-rant for the magazine, but to everything. Stop showing off skin for the sake of showing off skin and focus on the clothes. I know what a naked man looks like, I don’t see how it’s supposed to make any sense by having men naked in every editorial and in every ad. Not that this magazine does this, but it does happen quite a lot. It’s like when Abercrombie and Fitch and Hollister all have huge posters of bare chested men when they are supposed to be selling clothes? SHOW ME THE CLOTHES!!! >____<. Sorry for that, it’s just one of my pet peeves.